CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
To Change the World, You Must Start Locally . . . is how the old saying goes. As with many areas of psychology, a goal of community psychology is to promote human welfare. Community psychologist differ however with respect to how they go about this. Perhaps no other established field within psychology is as concerned with social justice, diversity, and positive social change as this one. Moreover, whereas work in other areas of psychology often only indirectly impacts human welfare, community psychologists work directly with local communities to create real, tangible changes that lead to positive outcomes. In other words, community psychologists are in the trenches, advancing the line forward by reducing inequality and promoting collaboration, justice, and equal opportunity. This is noble and important work, and I hope you will learn a little more about it by reviewing the resources provided below. Perhaps you
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may consider becoming a community psychologist. I hope so. With enough people fighting for human welfare in their local communities, perhaps we can effect change in the world more broadly.
Additional Resources and Further Reading Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). http://www.scra27.org/ Community Psychology: Social Justice Through Collaborative Research and Action. www.communitypsychology.com Bond, M. A., Serrano-García, I., Keys, C. B., & Shinn, M. (Eds.). (2017). APA handbook of community psychology: Theoretical foundations, core concepts, and emerging challenges. https://doi.org/10.1037/14953-000
References Hawe, P. (2017). The contribution of social ecological thinking to community psychology: Origins, practice, and research. In M. A. Bond, I. Serrano-García, C. B. Keys, & M. Shinn (Eds.), APA handbook of community psychology: Theoretical foundations, core concepts, and emerging challenges (p. 87–105). https://doi.org/10.1037/14953-004 Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2020). Introduction to community psychology. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds.), Noba textbook series: Psychology. DEF publishers.
Ethan A. McMahan, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Western Oregon University where he teaches courses in research methods, advanced research methods, and positive psychology. He is passionate about undergraduate education in psychology and has served Psi Chi members in several ways over the last few years, including as a faculty advisor, Psi Chi Western Region Steering Committee Member, Grants Chair, and most recently, as the Western Regional Vice-President of Psi Chi. His research interests focus on hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to well-being, folk conceptions of happiness, and the relationship between nature and human well-being. His recent work examines how exposure to immersive simulations of natural environments impact concurrent emotional state and, more broadly, how regular contact with natural environments may be one route by which individuals achieve optimal feeling and functioning. He has published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, the Journal of Happiness Studies, Personality and Individual Differences, and Ecopsychology, among other publications. He completed his undergraduate training at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and holds a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Wyoming.
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applied nature of this field, action-oriented research using both quantitative and qualitative methods is the norm. Beyond that, graduate students often complete a variety of courses on such topics as program evaluation, public health, organizational/ community development, human diversity, and grant writing, and students can expect to complete much of their work in the community through practicums and internships. Following graduate training, the budding community psychologist can work in a number of settings including colleges and universities, local government offices, nonprofit organizations, businesses, among others.